Inside Politics: Boris Johnson provides NHS with £3bn funding boost

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The hit musical Six, a pop romp through the lives Henry VIII’s six wives, has been forced to cancel a tour of British cities because of uncertainty over local lockdowns. Boris Johnson – who only has two ex-wives, but has been accused of Henry VIII-style rule by decree – is increasingly worried by the impact of lockdown on the economy. Shocked by our silent city centres, the PM is expected to make a speech today encouraging us to start commuting again and get back to work to this summer. Johnson is also thinking of the seasons ahead, and is set to announced extra money for the NHS this winter.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodock on what to look out for today:

Boris Johnson will use one of the government’s now-irregular press conferences at Downing Street press conferences to set out a massive funding boost for the health service. The PM is also due to publish a new section of the government’s “road map” out of lockdown, with fresh guidance on returning to work. Meanwhile the Lords’ science and technology committee will take evidence on the outbreak from chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty.

Daily briefing

HISTORY BOYS: Boris Johnson will commit an extra £3bn for the NHS in England to ease winter pressures and a possible second wave, and will announce a new target of 500,000 Covid tests by October. The PM is also ready to encourage people to get back into the office. Will government guidance actually change, substantially? If so, it’ll be without the blessing of Sir Patrick Vallance. The chief scientific adviser said there’s “absolutely no reason” to change the approach to working from home. Is a rift emerging? Sir Patrick told MPs he recommended implementing lockdown “as soon as possible” on 16 March (Johnson announced lockdown a week later, on 23 March). Matt Hancock later claimed lockdown did begin on 16 March – the day he “advised” again unnecessary social contact. “That is, precisely, when the lockdown was started.” Labour has accused Hancock of trying to re-write history.

STEALING THE SPOTLIGHT: Cozy Bear hackers have “almost certainly” have been working with Russian intelligence in a “despicable” attempt to steal coronavirus vaccine research from UK labs, said the National Cyber Security Centre. A Putin spokesperson denied it, of course. But have the hackers been successful? On Thursday Russia announced its intention to produce 200 million doses of an “experimental” vaccine this year. Dominic Raab said “Russian actors” also spread UK-US trade documents on the internet in the hope of influencing the 2019 general election. Is the timing of all Russia stuff a little convenient? No 10 said it was “nonsense” to suggest Raab’s statement was aimed at taking the heat out of potentially embarrassing details in the Russia report – finally out early next week.

SLEDGEHAMMER CITY: Small mercies for poor Leicester. Hancock announced some, but not all, restrictions would be lifted from 24 July following its prolonged lockdown. Schools and nurseries will be open but bars and restaurants will stay shut – and the ban on non-essential travel and social gatherings of more six people will remain too. Hancock pointed to virus rates – now 119 cases per 100,000 – remaining well above the national average. Sir Peter Soulsby said he was “extremely frustrated that a sledgehammer approach is being taken to deal with an issue in a very small part of the city”. Frustrated local leaders will get access to new data from today. Public health directors can now see both positive tests and patient-level data on a daily basis.

ALL APOLOGIES: Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has stepped down from the shadow cabinet, saying a “torrent of online hate” had made his position untenable. He recently apologised after accusing JK Rowling of using her sexual assault as justification for “discriminating” against trans people. He also apologised for Facebook comments in which he suggested Jewish claims to Israel were “not progressive in [their] very nature”. Elsewhere, the head of the government’s new race disparity commission has come in for some flak. The Muslim Council of Britain said Tony Sewell had a history of “downplaying race disparities” (in 2010 he said evidence of institutional racism was “flimsy”). Sewell has also been forced to apologise after The Guardian unearthed comments he wrote about “tortured queens playing hide and seek”.

HAIR BRAINED: Donald Trump got more-than-slightly distracted during a White House speech on the need to cut regulations, and began to talk about his “perfect” hair and incandescent lightbulbs – which he claimed make everyone “look so much better”. Mary Trump continued her media blitz to promote her new book, telling MSNBC she has heard her uncle use both the “n-word” and anti-Semitic slurs. The Centres for Disease Control, meanwhile, released a report claiming the president’s China travel ban was too late to slow the spread of coronavirus. It came as Dr Anthony Fauci said 30,000 people would participate in a vaccine trial starting this summer.

MILLION MILESTONE: India has now surpassed one million confirmed cases of the coronavirus – third only to the US and Brazil – with nearly 25,000 deaths. “The acceleration in cases remains the main challenge for India in the coming days,” said Dr Ashish Jha, head of the Harvard Global Health Institute – who warned the vast majority of cases there were still being missed. Elsewhere, authorities in China have cancelled more than 600 flights in the capital of Xinjiang province after a single new case was confirmed there. And the UN is making an appeal for £8bn to combat the virus in some of the world’s poorest countries – the organisation’s largest ever fund-raising call.

On the record

“It’s clear the outcome in the UK has not been good. I think we can be absolutely clear about that.”

Sir Patrick Vallance on how badly Britain has been hit by the virus.

From the Twitterati

“Matt Hancock tried to claim lockdown was imposed on 16th March. That is a lie … Trying to rewrite history after 45k deaths is truly outrageous.”

Dr Rachel Clarke is appalled at Hancock’s attempt to re-define ‘lockdown’…

“I *think* Matt Hancock has jumped the shark. He’ll probably get promoted now.”

…while James O’Brien suggests it won’t hurt his career.

Essential reading

Mary Dejevsky, The Independent: Brexit Britain can only have one enemy at a time – and it’s not Russia

Sean O’Grady, The Independent: The sacking of Julian Lewis proves we’re under absolute rule by Boris

Lynsey Hanley, The Guardian: Labour will win by changing minds – not pandering to right-wing voters

Megan Garber, The Atlantic: How Americans became part of the Trump family

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